Adapting Career-Focused Programs for Emerging Industries

Lightcast research shows that 37% of the top 20 skills requested for the average U.S. job changed between 2016 and 2022 and, as reported in a World Economic Forum survey, employers anticipate 23% “labor market churn” in the next five years as new jobs emerge and some become obsolete. (The groundbreaking arrival of ChatGPT in 2022 serves as one example of just how quickly new technology can affect the economic landscape.) 

In these shifting tides, higher education can, and should, play a vital role in preparing learners for the future of work. And it doesn’t always have to mean creating a new program from scratch. Instead, an agile, adaptive approach can help you update existing courses and programs to better meet the evolving needs of learners and employers.

However, success in this area requires an ongoing commitment to career-relevant programs guided by data-driven decision making. In particular, academic leaders can use real-time job postings data to spot emerging roles and skills in the labor market, and then leverage that insight to improve program-to-market alignment.

In this post, we’ll look at two examples:

1. Adapting electrical programs for the green jobs revolution, and 

2. Adapting computer science programs for the boom in cybersecurity demand. 

(Note: Green Jobs, and Cybersecurity are both available as Lightcast Sectors – emerging areas of the economy that we help you define and track in Analyst, based on research we’ve done with industry experts. Learn more about Lightcast Sectors in our Knowledge Base article, and read on to see them in action.

While Lightcast Sectors are currently available only in the US, employer job postings and industry data is available in Canada as well!).

Adapting electrician education for the green sector

One of the most common vocations that colleges and trade schools prepare students for is that of an electrician, and for good reason. An ever-in-demand profession, the number of electrician jobs has long held steady in the U.S., even experiencing 5% growth in the past five years, according to Lightcast jobs data. What’s more, the median salary for electricians in the U.S. is roughly $60,000 a year—a strong sum for a profession in which only 2% of job postings require a bachelor’s degree. But, almost half of electricians do have some college or an associate's degree, and many colleges and trade schools are at the front lines when it comes to equipping students for this profession. 

There is another strength to electrician programs, however. Institutions with strong programs in this field have a unique opportunity to expand to meet the needs of an emerging sector: —green jobs. 

Lightcast data revealed a notable increase of over 50% in the demand for green jobs in the U.S. from 2019 to 2023, reflecting the rise of social concern and public policy around environmental sustainability in recent years. One of the most in-demand jobs in the green sector is solar photovoltaic installation, an occupation which has grown by roughly 190% since 2018. If you compare job posting data for solar photovoltaic installers and electricians, you can easily see the overlapping skills required in both fields—such as electrical wiring, electrical equipment, power tool operation, and construction.

By using existing courses that already equip students with these skills, and then supplementing them with new course content—and maybe a new credential—in solar energy or solar installation, institutions with an electrician program already in place can expand to meet the needs of this growing field. And, since the barrier to entry for solar photovoltaic installers is not as high as those for electricians, a new program or certificate in this area would likely appeal to a pool of students who might be looking for a quicker pathway to gainful employment.

Many of these same skills can be found in another hot job in the green sector. According to Lightcast data, the number of wind turbine service technicians in the U.S. has increased by 100% since 2018, and is predicted to keep growing. Given that the median salary for this occupation is $61,776, and that only 4% of the job postings for it require a bachelor’s degree, a program or certification that sets students up for success in this field is likely to have a strong appeal. 

A look at the job posting data for this occupation reveals that skills such as power tool operation, preventative maintenance, and electronic components are often required for these roles. Again, these are skills which are already taught in many electrician programs, as well as HVAC programs, another area in which technical colleges and trade schools often make major contributions to the regional workforce. The next step, then, would be to identify key skills not already taught in existing courses—such as voltage testers, hydraulic accumulators, or wind-farming—and create new courses or microcredentials that can teach students the essential knowledge in these areas.

A window of opportunity in the cybersecurity shortage

The green sector is not the only one on the rise. In recent years, cybersecurity has seen explosive growth. As of 2023, demand for cybersecurity jobs grew 30% year-over-year, 2.4x faster than all jobs in the US. Given the aggressive speed of this growth, it’s unsurprising that the industry is in desperate need of more workers.

This gap indicates a window of opportunity for institutions focused on meeting industry needs and preparing students for in-demand careers. While it’s true that the minimum required education is quite high for many jobs in this sector, many of these roles can also be filled by individuals with a set of specific transferable skills and qualifications — and, given the severe shortage of cybersecurity workers, many employers may find it beneficial to agree. 

For instance, according to Lightcast jobs data, the number of Information Security Analysts in the U.S. has grown 132% in the past 10 years. This job has a hefty median salary of $120,370, and while the majority of people in this field have a bachelor’s degree or higher, a quarter of the workers in these positions have only some college or an associate’s degree. 

As with the electrician-green jobs example, institutions can use job posting trends to inform how they modify or pivot their computer science programs to better equip students for a career in information security.  “Sought skills” from employer job postings can be compared with “taught skills” in academic programs to uncover opportunities for greater market alignment. These adjustments can help institutions keep pace with the fast-growing cybersecurity industry, and position graduates for jobs in a lucrative field that is hungry for talent.

Lightcast has made a commitment to helping fill the cyber jobs gap, most notably by contributing to the National Cybersecurity Workforce and Education Strategy. As part of that work, we partnered with CompTIA to create Cyberseek, a tool that provides data to help employers, job seekers, policy makers, training providers, and guidance counselors meet today's increasing demand for cyber professionals. Our recent quarterly cybersecurity report homes in on the lack of supply, and discusses how as a nation we might look to fill the gap.

Conclusion

Higher ed plays a crucial role in both improving students' employment prospects, and meeting evolving industry needs. In a time when occupations can easily appear, disappear, or transform in the span of just a few years, market-aligned institutions will be invaluable for preparing learners for sectors on the rise. It requires effort, and investment. But the payoff is an ability to evolve sustainably alongside the labor market, preparing students (and your institution) for a new world of work.